Tracklisting/A Plague On Both My Houses/Watching The News With The Sound Off/The New Number Two - 030715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Another frustrating, and ultimately disappointing, day today...

Remixed/remastered ...PLAGUE and WATCHING... in CE5/AA3. Both sound fine and are keepers.

However, I spent practically the whole day trying to sort out ...NUMBER TWO, and having got to the 37th different mix, I decided that I can't do anything with it in its present state. I won't even begin to list all the hoops I tried to jump through to bring this track home, but ultimately I couldn't get it to work. It's a shame, because I really love the track. I gave it every chance to come through, but...

The problem lies in my choice of VST soft synths, I plumped for a couple of "distressed" sounds which seemed to occupy the same space EQ-wise. No amount of adjustment would make the various parts sit well together, so I have decided to drop the track from the album. I'll revisit it again in the future - I just don't have the time for it right now.

Of course, that now means I have to adjust the tracklisting. What larks! A job for next week, perhaps. Well, at least the album will be even shorter now...;-).

Enjoy the fine weather!

Regards,


djp

FCA Boots/Gomorrah/Is Everybody Happy Yet? - 220515

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

FCA BOOTS

Sorted the glitch. Remixed/remastered in CE5/AA3. Sorted.

GOMORRAH

Had to do an emergency edit on the Ric bass/Squier Strat parts. Mixed/mastered in CE5/AA3. Three mixes. Taking the second.

IS EVERYBODY HAPPY YET?

What a nightmare of a track to mix. Had to edit the Squier Strat parts and do a huge amount of tweaking of the VST soft synth parts. Mixed/mastered in CE5/AA3/AA1.5. Not sure if I'm 100% happy with it. Made multiple mixes, too many to count. I picked the least worst one, if you follow me. I spent an awful lot of time on a track that won't actually feature on the finished album. Who'd be me, eh...?

In other news, my broadband was down all day. I was too busy to check it out during the day, but this evening I got on to my ISP. During the week, I'd ordered fibre broadband and was told that an engineer would be out in a few weeks to sort things out. However, it seems that they actually turned on my fiber broadband today and my router couldn't handle it, Luckily, I had a second router which could take fibre broadband, so I got on to the support guy and found that if I connected it to the test phone socket inside the master phone socket, everything worked fine. However, the support guy told me that this would disable my landline, so I had to disconnect my alarm, because it was beeping like mad.

Subsequently, I discovered that the landline could work if I connected it to the test socket through the filter. So it seems there may have been no need to disconnect the alarm at all. Tcheh! So now you know what I'll be up to for the rest of the evening.

Shtuff...

Regards,


djp

Choking On Dry Bread/Me & The Fly - 060515

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Thought I might have a window to do some mixing/mastering this week, but I have a house full of students studying for exams, so that put the kibosh on that...

Instead, I started work editing CHOKING..., which essentially is a radical dub of ...FLY. The track is being extensively re-worked and will pretty much start at the middle section of ...FLY and everything will radiate from there, if you know what I mean,

The Ric bass and Squier Strat parts are pretty much sorted and MIDI soft synth parts are pretty OK too, but I might look at that aspect of the track again. Since the student "situation" is continuing for the rest of the week, I'll do some work on this tomorrow and possibly Friday. I'll look to see what use I can make of the existing vocal parts. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to start dubbing-up tomorrow.

As CHOKING... is working off the ...FLY CE5 project file, and as all the levels have been set for the ...FLY mix, I should, in theory, be able to mix/master CHOKING... using the ...FLY levels without having to use monitors for mixing. I'll give that a go. If it works, it'll save me a good bit of time.

CHOKING...will feature on the album, while ...FLY will not. Just want to clarify that.

Regards,


djp

Tropes and Memes - 260415

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Edited/dubbed-up in CE5. Mostly on the MIDI drum parts. Had to track one of the VST soft synths (Prologue Forum Romanum) to audio because the synth tended to hang. Tidied up the ending and the track is now ready to mix/master. Sounds immense...;-).

The plan for tomorrow is to track the vocals for MARE NOSTRUM. That's unless "shtuff" happens...

Regards,


djp

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 090415

Sponsored by "Depeche Mode".

Finished off editing/dubbing-up in CE5. I had to tweak one of the Squier Strat parts too - sounds much better now.

I had a lot of issues with my PC today. I think one of VST delay plugins is very "needy" memory-wise and it caused CE5 to freeze, almost invariably after I'd made some change without saving it. Changing the plugin sorted that out, although the alternative plugin doesn't quite have the character of the original. But it'll do...

The track is now ready to mix/master.

More work tomorrow. Time to move on...

Regards,


djp

Is Everybody Happy Yet? - 260315

Sponsored by "Circumambient".

Did all me editing and dubbing-up in CE5. Not 100% happy with it (which is ironic, given the track title) but I have a few down-and-dirty ideas that might make it all bettah...

I also tracked an additional VST plugin synth part to complement that one I didn't like yesterday. They work well enough together.

It's going to be an absolute cow to mix, so I'll have to be careful with my EQs an' ting.

Maybe heading towards the exit marked "EP material"? We'll see...

More work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

I Choose Indecision/Is Everybody Happy Yet? - 250315

Sponsored by "Christmas".

A combination of "events" and the recurrence of a bloody cold (sat too long drinking pints in a draughty pub in Dublin last Saturday night) lead to yet another postponement of my vocalisation work, so, in view of the looming presence of "shtuff", I had to invoke Plan B...

...INDECISION

Finished off the editing/dubbing-up in CE5. This in spite of my PC freezing on a number of occasions, with the relevant CE5 project file being unsaved at the time. Bugger. However, the track is now ready to mix/master, so, "result"...

...HAPPY

Started working in editing the various vocal parts. They're tidied up now, so I just need to decide where the cuts/pastes are. I changed some of the MIDI drum VST plugin parts, just because I can.

I also need to change out one of the key synth parts. I don't like the tone I used, so I have to find something similar, but not as extreme.

More work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

I Can Explain...Everything - 130315

Sponsored by "Gong" (for the day that's in it...).

Feeling somewhat better manflu-wise, but I decided to keep working on ...EVERYTHING. It's very nearly all done at this stage. I need to track some VST plugin parts in audio for editing purposes. I'll do that over the weekend.

I'm probably spending more time on this track than it actually merits, given that it's heading for EP Heaven, but I want to get it sounding as good as I can before it escapes the Gulag. Call me obsessive, if you like...;-).

Regards,


djp

Accents/Helicopter Shots Of The City - 040115

Sponsored by "Last Played 2015".

Well, that was enjoyable! My roadtrip was postponed until the afternoon, which gave me a few hours to play around with.

ACCENTS

Solved the problem with the trailing decay. It was caused by putting the HALion Synstrings part through a long pre-fader reverb. Tracking the part (and the reverb) to audio in CE5, using the Phonic Firefly/Behringer Xenyx 1202 solved that problem and I can edit the audio to end exactly where I want it.

The track is now ready to mix/master.

HELICOPTER...

Had great fun "dubbing-up" the MIDI drum parts. Much trial and error was required, but I got there in the end. I realised that I need to set up a separate set of FX for each drum part, as sharing FX  between parts didn't work out for me. I wonder is there a limit to the number of FX channels I can have in CE5? Guess I'll find out tomorrow...;-)

Regards,


djp

Accents - 030115

Sponsored by "Last Played 2014".

Programmed dub delays on the vocal and percussion parts in CE5. Much trial and error and back and forth, but the track sounds in pretty good shape now.

I have an issue with trailing decays on some of the VST plugin synths, but I'll sort that by tracking them to audio and fading them out at the appropriate time. That'll be on Monday, as I have a mini roadtrip tomorrow.

Because of the source material for the vocal parts (sampled 78s), I reckon I'm going to put this as a hidden bonus track on the Bandcamp download, which means it won't be available on the CD Baby/iTunes/whatever version of the album. So you'll know where to go when you want to download the album, eh?

Regards,


djp

FCA Boots - 020115

Sponsored by "Last Played 2012" and "Last Played 2013".

Programmed/edited a number of MIDI VST plugin parts in CE5 using the Roland Juno-D/Phonic Firefly/HALion One/ JP Analogue Stringpad. Not sure if I'm going to use all the parts, but I'll certainly use most of them.

I also took the opportunity to tweak some of the Ric bass parts and the MIDI drum parts. All is well now.

The track is bloody awesome as it is, but there's more to do on it at a later stage.

Check in later on when I will give an overview of the project status. Could be mildly interesting...;-).

Regards,


djp

FCA Boots - 271214

Sponsored by "Joy Division/New Order".

Programmed/edited various MIDI drums parts in CE5 using the Roland Juno-D/Phonic Firefly/Kore Player Sky Kit. Tricky rhythms to program/edit and I may have to revisit some of the parts at some stage, but it's in pretty good nick beatswise.

More work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

I Choose Indecision - 091214

Sponsored by "Hawkwind".

Finished off editing the Squier Strat parts in CE5. Stripped them pretty much to the bone, but as I said yesterday, there may be scope for further editing when the vocals are tracked.

I also tracked audio for the various MIDI VST plugin synth parts using the Behringer Xenyx 1202, as I need to do some drop-outs on the synth parts, and it's as handy to do them in audio as against VST. But maybe that's just me.

The track is pretty much done for the moment. I have a road trip to Dublin tomorrow, to collect the Roland Juno-D from the vet, but if I have enough time in the afternoon, I might be able to do some editing on another track. At least I have a choice in the matter...;-).

Regards,


djp

Me & The Fly - 091114

Sponsored by "Creedence Clearwater Revival".

Had another pop at editing the Squier Strat parts in CE5 and after a few hours I actually think I found myself back where I started. That, as they say, is hurlin'...

I also programmed a MIDI synth part using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/FM8. Not particularly inspired, so I ended up chucking most of it, but the track's in pretty good nick, so it's time to move on.

More tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 271014

Sponsored by "Bob Mould etc."

Frustrating, but ultimately rewarding, morning today. Programmed a number of MIDI parts in CE5 using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/4Front Rhode. Edited in CE5.

My PC decided that today was the day to start acting the maggot, so I had quite a number of screen-freeze/hard reboot situations.My own occasional lack of decision didn't help here wither. But I kept plugging away at it and eventually got a satisfactory result.

A little more programming tomorrow and then I think the track is ready to dub-up.

Regards,


djp

Accents - 251014

Sponsored by "Bob Dylan".

Busy day today. Programmed a variety of MIDI parts in CE5 using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/HALion One Vintage Kit and SynStrings/Prologue Trill Pad. I also edited the various vocal parts in CE5, to fit in better with the MIDI parts I'd programmed.

The track sounds really good now. I'm at the point of either adding more elements to it or leaving it be. My preference is for the former, so that I can have scope for dubbing things up. I'll have a go at this next week.

Another one nearly done...

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 201014

Sponsored by "Bing Satellites".

I was supposed to start work on a new track today, but the real world intervened and I had to change my plans. Luckily, I have a backlog of matters musical to attend to...;-).

Edited the various Squier Strat parts in CE5. Also did a little edit on the MIDI drum parts. I hear synths...

Hopefully I should be able to start on the new track tomorrow.

Sweden went great, BTW. Younger Daughter is keeping well, if somewhat penurious. Got back to Ireland yesterday tired, a little bit sad and somewhat out-of-pocket. But it had to be done, so you'll hear no complaints from me...;-).

Regards,


djp

Me & The Fly - 121014

Sponsored by "Band Of Heathens".

New track - programmed 3 MIDI beat parts in CE5 using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/HALion One Tekno Kit. Edited in CE5.

Hope to track Ric/Squier Strat parts for this over the next few days. Quick and nasty. This track (if it ever gets finished) is a candidate for the lead single from the album.

More work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Re-releases/Floaty Floaty/Tupolev Honey - 120914

Sponsored by "40s Music".

Reverbnation (the bastards) are shutting down their online music store at the end of this month. The Reverbnation site used to be my main online store for my releases which were not done through CD Baby. My Bandcamp store is now my main outlet, but I only opened that in recent years, so there's material on the Reverbnation store that isn't on the Bandcamp store. D'ye follow...?

So, in view of the imminent closure, I'm starting a programme of releasing material on Bandcamp that was previously exclusively available from Reverbnation. First up are the three EPs I released to promote my 2010 album HAPPY DAYS IN THE GULAG...

I'LL VISIT YOU IN PRISON



LUCKY DOPPELGANGERS...



...and STOP-GO GUY



There will be further releases over the next few weeks. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.

While I was rooting around for the wavs for these tracks, I came across files for tracks I'd been working on for HAPPY DAYS... but which, for whatever reason, remained unfinished.

FLOATY FLOATY is an experimental electronic instrumental based on a single VST plugin part. I'd obviously planned to do more with it at the time, but on listening to it now as is, it ties in nicely with the experimental stuff I'm doing for this project, so I mastered it in CE5/AA3. It'll either be an album track or an EP track. I'll know better closer to the day.

Meanwhile, TUPOLEV HONEY was about half-way finished, with a rockabilly drum loop rhythm and a MIDI piano take on Khachaturian's Sabre Dance...

...kinda sorta. I hear a walking bass part and some rockabilly guitar. And some vocals. If I have the time...;-).

So, a busy and productive day. How was yours...?;-).

Regards,

djp

A Accident/I Am A Shadow Of Your Former Self - 010914

Sponsored by "Jimi Hendrix".

Plagued with technical problems today...:-(.

I didn't feel like tracking bass/guitar today, so I had a look to see what needed doing on the project, and found to my delight that I had two tracks ready to mix/master. I decided to give that a go...

A ACCIDENT

Mixed in CE5 and mastered in CE5/AA3. Benjy the Studio Cat doesn't like it. That's fine by me. He's a cat - what does he know?

...SHADOW...

Was all set to mix/master this, when the anti-virus software on my PC told me that one of the VST plugins used on the track, Motion 2.8, was actually a "trojan horse". This messed up the launching of CE5, but bizarrely the track would open but would only play some of the notes in the Motion 2.8 part. Strange that. I uninstalled/reinstalled CE5 and restored the project file from DVD to see if that would do the trick. No dice.

I wouldn't mind, but Motion 2.8 worked fine only a few days ago...

I was starting to desperate at this stage, until I remembered that I have CE5 on my laptop. I powered that up and found that Motion 2.8 worked fine. I did notice that the laptop was not connected to the internet, so obviously the anti-virus software was not as up-to-date as on the PC. Whatever.

I decided the thing to do would be to track the Motion 2.8 part in audio on the laptop and then transfer it to the PC. This eventually worked after several cock-ups, and I finally got a decent audio track. There was one big click on the track, but I sorted that with AA3.

So now I'm ready to mix/master the track at some stage in the future when I get a free day but don't feel like playin' geetarz...

As well that ends well, eh...?

Regards,

djp